HUTCHINSON – An off-shooting night for the Cloud County Community College women's basketball team would lead 76-44 loss to number-11 nationally ranked Hutchinson Community College inside the Hutchinson Sports Arena on Saturday.
Losing for just the second time this season, Cloud County is now 3-2 overall and 2-2 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while the Blue Dragons bounce back from a Wednesday night loss at Butler to improve to 4-1 overall and 3-1 in the KJCCC.
Despite seeing the shooting problems start early, CCCC would be able to keep things close with Hutchinson in the opening five minutes of play as a Derin Akdeniz jumper at the 5:33 mark of the first quarter would cut an 8-4 Blue Dragon lead in half. Following an HCC triple, the T-Birds would respond with a Sydni Keys rebound and tip-in and Rori Cox triple on the ensuing possession to tie things up at 11-all with 3:29 remaining in the quarter. Cloud County would then take their first lead of the contest at 14-13 as Cox would get a made layup before seeing Hutchinson score the final five points over the last two-plus minutes of the period to go up 18-14 after 10 minutes of action.
Points for both teams would be hard to come by for both squads in the opening minutes of the second quarter as CCCC would eventually manage to break through and get a Kennedy Becker layup and Keys jumper to knot the score up at 18-18 with 7:17 remaining in the first half. Hutchinson would then go on to score the next 10 points as CCCC would face a 3:21 scoring drought to go down double-digits for the first time in the game as the half would end with a 15-3 Blue Dragon run to make things 33-21 going into the intermission break.
Things would not get much better offensively in the third quarter for Cloud County as the T-Birds would manage to make just three field goals as six of the 12 points scored by CCCC in the quarter would come from the free-throw line. Hutchinson would start to find their groove on the offensive end at the same time as the 12-point halftime deficit would wind up turning into a 57-33 hole with one-quarter of play remaining.
In the fourth, Cloud County would manage to trade the first eight points of the quarter with the Blue Dragons but could not string together some defensive stops with successful offensive possessions. HCC would eventually continue to add on to their already large lead as the shooting woes would be too much for CCCC to try and overcome as any attempt at cutting into the Hutchinson lead would go by the wayside.
The poor shooting saw the T-Birds hit on just 16-of-74 (21.6 percent) attempts from the floor including an ice-cold one-of-14 (7.1 percent) from beyond the arc as Hutchinson would finish 49.2 percent (31-of-63) from the field. The Blue Dragons would use a 48-24 advantage in points in the paint and 54-42 rebounding advantage as both teams managed to score 16 points off turnovers.
Keys was the lone T-Bird to reach double-figures by finishing with 11 points while Idalis Lee would score eight points and haul in nine rebounds in 17 minutes of action off the bench. Hutchinson would be led by a game-high 17 points from Lojong Gore as four players for the Blue Dragons made their way into double-figures.
What's next?
Cloud County will play the first of two home games next week on Wednesday, February 10th when the T-Birds play host to Pratt Community College in their final home KJCCC West Division crossover game of the season. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. against the Beavers, who are 1-3 overall and 0-3 in the KJCCC following a 67-47 home loss to number 25 Butler on Saturday night.
--cloudtbirds.com--